Supplement to the J O U R N A L of the ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY CANADA ANNUAL REPORT 1971 APRIL 1972 REPORT OF THE NATIONAL SECRETARY Space exploration took a leap forward when Mariner 9 arrived in the neighbourhood of Mars and went into orbit in November. Its TV cameras reported a gigantic dust storm that obscured most of the surface of the Red Planet. Subsequent reports threw new light on the surface details on our neighbour. During 1971 well-attended meetings of the Council were held on January 23, May 21, May 22 and October 16. The Annual Meeting was held in Hamilton in conjunction with the General Assembly of the Society. The total number of members of the Society for 1971 was 2,554 including 139 Life members. The membership as of September 30th was as listed below: Calgary 58 Ottawa 174 Edmonton 58 Quebec 87 Halifax 29 St. John’s 16 Hamilton 87 Saskatoon 48 Kingston 9 Toronto 784 London 46 Vancouver 143 Montreal 164 Victoria 72 Centre d’Astronomie 70 Windsor 33 Niagara Falls 45 Winnipeg 103 Unattached Canada 138 Foreign 18 United States 357 Honorary 15 The General Assembly for 1971 was one of the best planned and smoothly executed meetings of the Society as well as being well attended. A full account of the Assembly was detailed in the June issue of the JOURNAL. The 10th Canada-Wide Science Fair was held this year in Edmonton. The Society’s award was won by Michael Spicer for placing first in the Astronomy Section of this popular Fair. Under the direction of Dr. Ian Halliday as Chairman of the Editing Committee and Editor, the JOURNAL maintained its interest for amateurs and professionals alike. As a popular section of the JOURNAL, the National Newsletter noted the opening of North Mountain Observatory, a project of the Ottawa Centre. The OBSERVER’S HANDBOOK, edited by John R. Percy, continued its 63rd year of publication. Many members of the Society have been honoured as recipients of awards during the past year. The Gold Medal was won by Blake Francis Kinahan who attained an A standing and a percent of 93 in Astronomy at the University of Toronto in his graduating year. Service Awards were presented to Kenneth Burne Meiklejohn of the Calgary Centre and John N.R. Scatliff, M.D., of the Winnipeg Centre. Membership Certificates were approved for presentation to members of the Ottawa, Montreal, Victoria and Toronto Centres. Canadian Science received its highest international recognition with the announcement on November 2nd that the Nobel Prize in Chemistry had been awarded to Dr. Gerhard Herzberg of the National Research Council and a member of the Ottawa Centre. Mention, too, should be made of the award of the Rumford Premium, the highest honour of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences to a team of Canadian radio astronomers for their achievements in the field of long-baseline interferometry. The Society was saddened in January at the passing of Victor Ben Meen, Chief Mineralogist of the Royal Ontario Museum. He was perhaps best known for his discovery and exploration of the Chubb Crater in Ungava and his contribution to the erection and establishment of the McLaughlin Planetarium as a part of the R.O.M. It is with regret that we record also the deaths during 1971 of Mr. William Fautley of the Hamilton Centre, Mr. Dean Thompson of the Toronto Centre and Mrs. Williamson of the Montreal Centre. C.E. Hodgson, Secretary CALGARY CENTRE The Centre held nine regular meetings and ten council meetings during the past year. All meetings were held at the Calgary Centennial Planetarium with the exception of the Annual Dinner. Speakers and subjects were: January 21 - John Howell: “Lunar Occultations and Observations”. February 18 - Junior Forum and Paul Costello: Film. March 18 - Roger Weir: “Myths and Legends in Astronomy” . April 15 - Discussion of Constitution. May 20 - Gary Finlay: “Energetic Realities of Space Travel” . September 16 - Alfred A. Levinson, Ph.D.: “Moon Rock, Minerals” and Film. October 21 - Richard Hartland-Rowe, Ph.D.: “Lunar Rhythms” and Film. November 18 - P.E. Gretener, Ph.D.; “How Unique is Mars” and Film. December 11/71 - Annual Dinner. S. Wieser: “Astrology”. EDMONTON CENTRE This year our Centre again held regular monthly meetings at the University of Alberta Campus. We started on October 19 with the Annual Meeting, at which time the new Executive and Council were elected. This was followed by the Annual Banquet at the Faculty Club of the University on Nov. 9. At this occasion the following awards were presented: The McBain Trophy for Astrophotography to Brian Martin. The President’s Award for Observational Activities to Bob Blaxley. The programs and speakers of the eight regular meetings were: October - R.A. Nelson, Calgary Planetarium: “Safari to the Mexican Eclipse” . November - G.W. Hodgson, Ph.D. Calgary: “The Origin of Life in Outer Space” . December - Films: “Time-lapse photography of the planets” ; “Construction of the Isaac Newton Telescope”. Video-tape of the moon, made by Mr. Gary Finlay. January - Wm. Cable: Demonstration of the Planetarium Projector (held at the Queen Elizabeth Planetarium). February - Alan Blackwell, National Research Council: “Meteorite Observation and Recovery”. March 8 - Allan Clark, Ph.D., University of Calgary: “Infra-red Astronomy” . March 23 - K.O. Wright, Ph.D., Dominion Astrophysical Observatory: “The Evolution of Double Stars”. May - E.S. Keeping, B.Sc., A.R.C.S.(Lond-), D.I.C.: “Voyage to the Galapogos Islands”. Film: “The Radio Sky”. Two outdoor events for members were organized: A picnic and observing session in June, and an “Observing Extravaganza” in September. Both were held at the U. of A. Devon Observatory Site. The Observer’s Group continued to meet regularly to exchange ideas, which they found very valuable. A number of new telescopes were completed during the year, and soon put to use. The Observing highlights had to be the two very successful grazing occultation expeditions, one a joint effort with the Calgary Centre. These successes have generated increased interest in these important events, so we expect more grazing expeditions in the future. (Mrs.) Jenny Rusch, Secretary HAMILTON CENTRE The Hamilton centre was very active this year and a great many things were accomplish­ ed. The Council of the Centre held six meetings and there were the usual monthly meetings at McMaster University as follows: January - Annual meeting and election of Officers and Council. - Guest speaker was Mr. L. Russell and “A Photographic tour through McMaster” . February - Mr. W. Daugherty talking on the Aluminizing of reflecting mirrors. March - D.E. Balik, Ph.D.: “Use and construction of Lasers” . This was a most interesting discussion because Dr. Balik was one of the two men involved in the invention of the Laser at Bell Labs. April - Display of commercial telescopes by Mr. L. Stuart; — G. Thede: “The First Canadians on the Moon” and “Astrophotography II”. May - Young Astronomers Night, where our younger members produced the program based on the moon and the exploration by manned landings. October - F. Schneider: “Photographic Applications with Colorful Results”. November - J. Winger and G. Craig: “Atmospheric Disturbances and their Effect on Astronomy”. December - G. Thede explained his new photoelectric device for the detection of Shadow-bands. All the monthly meetings had a new department called “Science Update” given by G. Thede. This involves a short lecture of 15-20 minutes detailing new discoveries in astronomy and related sciences. The Annual meeting was also noted for the first distribution of Hamilton Centre Membership Awards to those who have been members for a lengthy time and have con­ tributed to the betterment of astronomy. The Centre was greatly saddened this past spring with the death of its long time member and companion Mr. William Fautley. His help and wise counsel is greatly missed and all who endeavored to make telescopes were struck a severe blow. Due to the great esteem held by the Centre of Mr. Fautley, Council passed a resolution to establish the “William A. Fautley Award” to be given annually to that person who made the greatest contribution to the Centre during the past year and shall be selected by a committee appointed by Council annually. Thus the memory of Mr. Fautley will live for a long time. The Award will be a trophy to be held by the recipient for one year and he shall also receive a miniature to keep. The Centre had the honour to host the General Assembly this year and so decided to co-host it with the Niagara Falls Centre. Through much diligent work and planning the Assembly was a great success, including the usual one day of rain, albeit the last day. The idea of co-hosting the Assembly was ideal for the out-of-towners because they not only saw the Hamilton area but also that of Niagara Falls. We would strongly recommend to other larger centres to do the same. The greatest triumph to the Centre this year was its incorporation under the laws of the Province of Ontario. The legal name of the Centre now is “The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada 1968, Hamilton Centre” and it is run by a Board of Directors instead of a Council. The founding members of the Corporation were as follows: L.V. ?owis, R. Lang, R. Speck, E.A. Colquhoun and P.H. Ashenhurst. Peter H. Ashenhurst, Secretary KINGSTON CENTRE Eight meetings during the 1970-71 season, the dates and subjects were as follows: October 5, 1970 - Two films were shown, and the Queen’s University planetarium and optical telescope were demonstrated. October 19 - Film: “The Radio Sky” .